Strange Electrical Issue

[brucegwhite]

Greetings!

My rig is a 2007 Chateau Sport Class C.

On a recent camping trip I experienced the following:

I was plugged into the campground power.

Over a two-day period, the lights grew progressively dim. On the 3rd day, the water heater pilot shut off. We were leaving the next morning, so we just put up with it. In the morning, though, the fridge also had shut off.

Basically, all the hard-wired appliances were dead...but everything plugged into an outlet (like our microwave) worked fine.

I had checked to be sure that the campground power was good (it was). As a test, I fired up the generator and everything worked fine. Drove home, plugged into house power, and - lo and behold - the problem was gone! I had company stay in the RV for several days and the problem did not re-occur.

Until today. Now it's started again as I'm preparing to go on another trip. Lights dimming, etc. I'm pretty sure my coach battery is on it's last legs, but I don't understand how this would affect things when I'm plugged into house power.

I'm pretty good at fixing things, but a lousy trouble-shooter. Can anyone offer some suggestions?

Thanks!

[down_home]

You should have combination charger/converter/inverter check it for three pins or whatever the proper nomenclature is and make sure they are all pushed in. Is it dying I don't know without looking at it Find a good RV Repairman.Check your house batteries. The lights etc run on or though them. Some units may not have a refrigerator that runs on ac. But first find the house breakers. Our has two one each for the heat pumps and two more one each for the two 120 volt plug ins circuits which includes the convection/microwave
However it does sounds like the inverter but unless a surge got to it it may still be good. If you replace it get the next higher rated unit.
The Inverter should be in the compartment next to the battery compartment which should be dry and watertight.

[brucegwhite]

I replaced the coach battery; wouldn’t hold a charge. It doesn’t charge with the onboard generator; it only charged with the vehicle engine on. So sounds like a bad converter. I’ll get on it. Thx so much to all of you!

[MrWizard]

I suggest you put an automotive battery charger
On your house batteries for a few days,
Bring them to full charge before they are totally ruined

[Matt_Colie]

Bruce,

I do not know your coach, but most power/charge the house ban from the main engine. Many generators can also charge the house bank with their own battery charging system. That is why things worked when you got engines running. I suggest that you need to have a juice familiar friend diagnose the system now that you are home. If you let the house bank get down too far, it will not recover and will need to be replaced.

Matt

[time2roll]

brucegwhite wrote:
Several of you mentioned the converter. Forgive my ignorance but is this the same as the inverter? I have an electrical box with fuses and circuit breakers that controls everything in the coach and my understanding is that this is the inverter. It failed 2 years ago and I had it replaced.

post the model number of what was replaced so we know what you have.

[ken56]

Converter is DOA. Replace it before your next trip. Contact Randy at Bestconverter.com. Get his recommendation on what you should replace it with.

I just replaced mine on a 4 year old unit. It stopped charging the battery but everything else worked, even the 12 volt appliances when I was plugged into shore power. It's not a difficult project to replace it yourself...just unplug it from shore power and disconnect the battery. All will be dead so no electrons to worry about.

[coolmom42]

The converter changes 120 V to 12 V to charge the battery and run the 12V appliances. It's going any time you are plugged in.

The inverter takes 12V from the battery and converts it to 120 V to run your appliances like microwave, hair dryer, etc.

[DrewE]

An inverter and a converter are different things.

A converter takes 120V power from the shore power or generator and turns it into 12V power to charge the house battery and power the 12V systems when the generator is running or you're connected to shore power.

An inverter takes 12V power and makes it into 120V power so you can run 120V stuff, at least to a limited extent, when you don't have the generator running or shore power available. Thus, it's the exact opposite or complement of a converter. (Some better/fancier/more expensive inverters are combination inverter/charger units, and these can take the place of a converter.)

The electrical center could very well house the converter; that's one common arrangement. In such cases, the converter itself is typically the lower section of the electrical center, with the circuit breakers and fuses above it. Alternately, the converter may also be a separate standalone box that's mounted just about anywhere in the RV.

[brucegwhite]

Thank you all for the comments.

BFL13 - I got the generator started with a dead battery by turning on the RV engine; l the generator kicked right on. I didn't do anything different getting ready for the trip. Just turned the lights on and then noticed that they were starting to quickly go dim again.

Several of you mentioned the converter. Forgive my ignorance but is this the same as the inverter? I have an electrical box with fuses and circuit breakers that controls everything in the coach and my understanding is that this is the inverter. It failed 2 years ago and I had it replaced.

I will start by having my coach battery tested as you suggested.

Thank you all so much!

[wa8yxm]

Sounds to me like you have a 50 amp rig. . One leg was missing, the leg the converter is on. And you did not use anything else on that leg.

Thus the batteries ran down

Alternate answers...
YOu somehow reset a tripped breaker without knowing it
Or.
On my coach the converter is a plug in model.. Well... if the plug is loose then in packing to hit the road you may have pushed it back in.

[jdc1]

Or it could have simply been a bad outlet at the campground. You probably used a multi-meter to test the outlet at the campground? One end on hot, one on neutral? Those contact points might at the CG box could have been warn out.

[time2roll]

What is the battery voltage indicated on your voltmeter? Measure direct on the terminals.
Then measure the voltage in the 12v distribution panel.
Post the results.

Actually not at all a strange condition.

[opnspaces]

Yep converter dead and battery dead because converter not charging it.

[DrewE]

Your converter isn't working properly to keep the battery charged and provide 12V power, and the loads are consuming the battery charge. The problem "fixed" itself because the house battery got charged from the engine alternator while you were driving home.

If basic troubleshooting doesn't reveal something simple like a loose wire or a blown fuse or popped circuit breaker for the converter, it probably would be as well to simply replace it with a good multi-stage unit as I suspect the factory converter is a simple single-stage converter. A newer multi-stage one will recharge the batteries faster and be gentler on them once they are charged.